Author Profile

Will Rierson

Will Rierson graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in media and journalism. He previously served as the 2018-2019 John Blundell Fellow at the John William Pope Foundation.

Articles by Will Rierson

Concerned about the high cost of college, the University of North Carolina system is testing a low-tuition model at some schools to drive up enrollments. Though the experiment only started last fall, some preliminary observations can be made. The North Carolina Promise Tuition Plan was created by legislators in 2016 to help students who struggle … Continue reading “NC Promise’s Costs and Benefits: An Early Analysis”

A series of disasters face art colleges and the art departments of American universities. Their campuses are closing, their freshmen numbers are dwindling, and their graduates are struggling. Getting more students into an art program is a hard sell. To restore their appeal, art schools would do well to de-politicize their programs and focus on … Continue reading “Politicized Art Schools Are Losing Students to the Atelier Movement”

The public relies on journalists to learn about and share academic research. Public knowledge can be undermined, however, when academics try to influence what research journalists cover or limit the “acceptable debate” about an issue. This influence can be achieved through “citation cartels,” where sympathetic researchers cite and reference one another and ignore or dismiss … Continue reading “Keeping Journalists in the Dark: ‘Citation Cartels’ Limit Public Knowledge”

Editor’s note: This article is an excerpt from Coming Home: Reclaiming America’s Conservative Soul (ISBN: 9781641770569), to be published by Encounter Books on May 14. The promise of higher education has become a trap for tens of millions of Americans. The promise: Every one of us and our children could go to college, earn a … Continue reading “From Indoctrination to Education: Salvaging the University”

The time-honored American tradition of outlandish political promises continues apace. Now, the spotlight is on student debt. Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren added to the debate recently when she put forward a proposal to cancel $640 billion worth of federal and private student loans. Warren touts her plan as a way to boost the economy, … Continue reading “Forgiving Student Debt Isn’t the Solution to Anything”

A series of disasters face art colleges and the art departments of American universities. Their campuses are closing, their freshmen numbers are dwindling, and their graduates are struggling. Getting more students into an art program is a hard sell. To restore their appeal, art schools would do well to de-politicize their programs and focus on … Continue reading “Politicized Art Schools Are Losing Students to the Atelier Movement”